


Shaky Hands

by Jinmukang



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Dick Grayson is Batman, Dick is a fantastic big bro, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Whumptober 2019, hes doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 15:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20853725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinmukang/pseuds/Jinmukang
Summary: Damian runs into Scarecrow for the first time. Dick’s understandably worried.





	Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> First installment of whumptober2019! Enjoy!

Dick’s going to have an aneurysm. Either that or he’s going to burst a vein. He thought he had finally gotten through to Damian, made him understand that they are Batman and Robin and they _work _together. They don’t run off in the middle of enemy territory to face people like _Scarecrow _alone.

Dang it. Bruce is probably rolling in his grave.

He leaves the goons he’s just finished taking out zip tied in the hallway of the building they found themselves in and sprints towards where he saw Robin disappear off to just a few minutes ago, cape billowing behind him.

He thought they were past this. He thought Damian has learned his lesson that he’s not invincible. After all the shit they’ve been through together, how could he not?!

Clearly, Dick’s mistaken.

Dick is _so _going to make Damian clean the floorboards with nothing but a toothbrush after this. God damn. Jesus. Amen.

“Robin?” He calls out, turning a corner and opening a random door. There’s nothing inside but furniture covered in tarps and dust. He lets out a growl, slams the door shut, and continues to the next room, finding much of the same thing.

Damn it. Damian hasn’t ever faced off against Jonathan Crane before. He doesn’t know what to expect or how to defend himself from a man whose the expert in his craft. That craft being fear. Fear that can do who knows what to a ten year old kid like Damian. He doesn’t want to think about the horrors Damian would see if under the effects of fear toxin, with the way his life has been it could be anything. The kid’s been through so much, so much more than what Dick can even begin to understand.

“Robin!”

He slams the next door shut, and another, beginning to feel a little desperate. Where is everyone? Where’s Robin?

Where’s Crane?

Suddenly, further down the hallway there’s the sound of shattering glass and something else banging heavily against a wall. Dick stiffens his jaw and quickens his pace towards the noises, and as he approaches his blood runs cold when more noises reach his ears. Laughter. Smashing glass, more bangs. Dick doesn’t hesitate to swing open the door and what he comes across is a demolished room with knocked over metal tables and vials of unknown substances stuttered against walls with torn wallpaper. Scarecrow is here, and so is Robin Dick notices with a spike of fear. Damian is fighting like a cornered animal while Scarecrow violently swings a scythe (where does he even get those?!), thankfully missing and slicing up the nearby wall even more.

Dick jumps into battle without a second of hesitation. He pulls out a gas bomb and launches it at Crane’s feet, causing the man to cry out and stumble backwards away from Robin. Vapor fills the room and Dick runs forward, ramming into Crane’s side viciously with a well placed kick. Scarecrow goes flying backwards, dropping the scythe and hitting the back wall hard enough to crack it. Dick cant help but notice that Robin is sliding backwards against the wall behind him, breathing hard and clutching his arm. Blood is sluggishly seeping out from the wound, not enough to be an immediate cause for concern, but enough to make Dick worry. Scarecrow is good with a scythe, but Damian is better at dodging. Something happened that made Damian not dodge in time.

Scarecrow groans from the back wall, but his chest is shuttering with small jolts of laughter. “Big bad bat, come to rescue the scared birdie?”

Dick snarls and charges forward once again, dodging Cranes last attempt at swinging his scythe and then executing a well placed blow to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold.

It’s silent for a second, nothing but the sound of Crane’s body slumping against the floor, but then suddenly, a small whimper meets his ears and he spins around, rushing with no hesitation to where Damian is curled up with his knees to his forehead, his hand wrapped so tight around his arms wound that it must be white knuckled.

“Hey, hey, I’m here,” he says, crouching down next to Damian and bringing his hands forward to comfort the kid. He’s never seen Damian like this, and it scares the hell out of him.

“I’m sorry,” Damian whimpers when Dick comes too close, he curls in tighter around himself and Dick pulls his hands away like he’s been burned, “I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry-”

And then, Dick understands.

He keeps any swears to himself, to not startle Damian even more than what he _is_, and reaches towards his utility belt to uncap a prepared vial of antitoxin. He uncaps it and slides the needle in, flicking any bubbles before he creeps closer to Damian. “Every thing’s going to be okay, I promise,” Dick whispers.

Damian nearly jumps out of his skin the moment Dick grabs the bicep of his injured arm. Dick can hardly even prepare himself before a steel toed boot is slamming into his jaw and the syringe thrown across the room. Dick swears and Damian cries out in anger, fear, pick one, and lunges for a blind attack. Thankfully, and Dick hates to call it that, the fear running in Damian’s veins throws the kid off just enough for Dick to grab his fist mid punch and jump out of the way of a swinging sword with his other. Dick tugs Damian close by his captured hand but Damian retaliates by kicking Dick’s legs out from under him.

He lands hard on his back but he at least kept his grasp on Damian’s hand. He swings his own leg out and knocks out Damian’s balance, pulling him down towards Dick in the process. Damian gives a pitiful cry when Dick finally manages to wrap both of his arms around the kid, restraining flailing limbs. Damian kicks out, screaming and crying and Dick simply wraps his own legs around Damian’s flailing ones and holds him until Damian’s voice cracks with a sob.

Dick feels like his heart is going to break, but he doesn’t waste time just sitting there any longer. He slowly and carefully begins to scoot backwards and transfers his restraining hold to just one arm so he can reach out and grab the antitoxin. Damian is full on crying now, and the things he’s saying makes Dick want to cry himself.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, don’t leave me, I didn’t mean it, I’m not evil I swear, no no no Grayson please don’t leave me-”

Dick grinds his teeth and jams the needle into Damian’s arm, right next to his still bleeding wound where Dick suspects the fear toxin made entry in the first place. At first, Damian restarts his panic full throttle and Dick is forced to throw the empty syringe across the room so he can clutch his baby brother close as the antitoxin slowly begins it’s work.

“I’m here, Dami, I’m not going anywhere, I’m here-”

Dick hopes to god above that the antitoxin will work; it’s a catch all, made to fight the chemicals that frequently show up in Scarecrows poisons. He’d hate to have Damian suffer any longer than what he has to, and if he doesn’t calm down Dick will be forced to properly restrain him and get him to the cave so he and Alfred can get going on a better antidote.

Thankfully though, Damian does eventually go limp with a final sob, falling boneless against Dick’s chest with a pitiful mewl. “I’m here, shh shh shh, I got you…”

He keeps whispering and comforting until Damian’s small cries turn into even smaller sniffles, until he’s interrupted by a hand closing around one of his own.

“I’m okay now,” Damian says in a hardly comprehensible whisper. “You can let go now…”

He sound’s small, and Dick cant see his face but he’s sure his cheeks are red with embarrassment. As much as Dick doesn’t want to let him go, he also doesn’t want to make Damian uncomfortable in any way right now. He’s about to agree and let go, tie up Crane, call Gordon, and take Robin home to do some blood work and prepare his speech about how Robin could have gotten himself killed and yada yada yada… but then Dick notices Damian’s hand is still clutched around his own.

His hands are shaking.

Dick sighs and switches his grasp so it’s no longer restraining and more like a cuddle, pulling Damian closer to him while the kid calls out with a slight squawk.

“I’ll never leave you, Damian,” he says before he can really think about it. Damian stills, swallows, and relaxes into Dick’s grasp.

Everything can wait right now. All that matters is the kid in his arms just coming off his first dosage of fear toxin. Dick doesn’t want to think about all the stuff Damian has seen while under the influence, how long he had to hold of Crane on his own until Dick got there to save the day. He forces that all out of his mind so he can gather Damian closer and press his nose into Damian’s hair, watching Damian’s shaking hands like a hawk, until those tremors slowly still and Damian closes his eyes, cheek resting against the bat symbol on Dick’s chest.

“I got you, Dami,” he whispers, pressing his lips into his hair. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Damian hums sleepily. “I know…”

Then, so small Dick isn’t even sure if he heard it.

“Thank you.”


End file.
